


Somewhere Out There

by puptart



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Character Study, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-25
Updated: 2016-05-25
Packaged: 2018-06-10 17:29:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6966472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/puptart/pseuds/puptart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rudy Adaar doesn't take much seriously, even his job as Inquisitor, but he has a conversation with Leliana about the one thing that matters more to him than anything.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Somewhere Out There

**Author's Note:**

> I'm still getting a handle on my newest Inquisitor, so this is me working out his inner monologue and how other people in the Inquisition react to him.

Inquisitor Rudolphio Adaar swaggers his way through the main hall of Skyhold, his sword-- which he cannot actually wield to any great affect-- slung low at his hip, hidden by an elegant sheath, intent on finding his spymaster for an update on a very important matter. It isn't a long walk to her usual roost, but every few steps he is accosted into joining conversation with the many, many visitors and residents of Skyhold. He stops each time to talk, asking after children and lovers and the latest gossip, until Varric pauses his scribbling by the fire and comes over to gracefully extract him from a riveting retelling of the assassination of a noblewoman's cousin. It's much appreciated, even though he was quite enjoying the story; there are few things Rudy loves more than talking to anyone and everyone within reach. He has a specific person to chat with though, and only so many hours in a day. This particular chat has been a long time coming, besides, and he's eager to get it started.

Even so, he still stops to ask after Varric's latest correspondence with Hawke, then asks him how Merril is doing (well enough, though she's lonely. Guard Captain Aveline has been cutting her visits short recently, apparently), and then finally parts ways when Varric assures him that the latest chapter of Swords and Shields is coming along fine, and they confirm that no, Cassandra still doesn't know anything about it. Rudy drops him a wink, then heads into the rotunda, where Solas is scrutinizing a document at his desk. Just as Rudy is about to greet him, his attention is caught by the graceful arc of a book flying through the air above, over the railing of the floor above them, which lands on the floor behind Solas with a loud  _SMACK_ that causes several startled yelps from the occupants of the library, and a rather louder shriek of fright from Solas himself.

"Fenedhis! Pavus!" Solas snaps, clearly ruffled, and a moment later Dorian oozes into view, leaning casually over the railing, a feline-esque smile on his handsome face.

"So sorry, did I disturb you?" He asks, too wicked to be innocent. Rudy is damn tempted to stay and watch this play out, considering it one of the finer examples of comedy he's ever come across, but he reluctantly walks along the wall to the stairs instead while Solas chews Dorian out in a blend of Common and Elven. 

Dorian looks distinctly bored with it by the time Rudy passes him by. He twists his mustache idly and waves to Rudy, clearly inviting him to occupy the space beside him, as is usual when shenanigans are unfolding. For now he just waves back and keeps walking. He'll come back and help entertain Dorian later, if only to keep him from antagonizing the other occupants of Skyhold  _too_ much.

Up in the rookery, the ravens announce his arrival with a flood of squawks and flapping wings, two birds taking flight to glide past him. He follows them, knowing they've gone to their mistress to make sure she's aware of his presence. As if she could miss it, honestly.

Leliana steps away from her small altar, turning to face him with the two ravens perched on her left arm. She looks tired, but not terribly harried.

"Good afternoon, Leliana," Rudy says with a grin. The ravens both peck viciously at his fingers when he attempts to stroke the one nearest Leliana's elbow, and he hisses. "Little savages."

Leliana suppresses a small smile, and gloatingly succeeds in petting both ravens. "Well, we can't have our messengers become too tame, now can we?"

"Oh no, Maker forbid," Rudy smirks, shaking his head.

"Did you need something, Inquisitor?" Leliana asks, always one to get straight to the point. No doubt she's eager to have him out of her hair, and by now she's more than aware of his knack for making a short story long. He'd heard many stories of her and the Hero's other companions from the Fifth Blight in Ferelden, and if half of them are true, she used to be quite the same way before... something happened. No one seems to know much about what happened to her after the archdemon was slain, but she became a very different Leliana apparently. It's not entirely his concern though, not now.

"I'm here to ask how the search for my mother goes," Rudy says. For once, he actually doesn't care to draw this conversation out either; it's been nearly half a year since he first asked Leliana to use her resources as a spymaster to look for Ama, and he hasn't heard the first word about it since. When she hadn't turned up amongst the rebel mages in Redcliffe, he'd been damn tempted to abandon this whole Inquisition thing to just go look for her himself. Looking for her had been the whole goal behind him encouraging the old merc company to accept the job from the Chantry to keep the peace between the Templars and mages gathered for the Conclave. He'd looked all over Haven for weeks, searching for any Vashoth amongst the mages, with no luck.

Instead of leaving after Redcliffe turned up nothing as well though, he'd turned to Leliana to take over the search so he could give being Inquisitor a shot. He was, and is, needed by the Inquisition for now, if only because he can't detach his hand from his wrist and pass it off to someone more qualified to lead an entire army. His conscience has kept him from abandoning the cause thus far, as well as the fact that Leliana's reach is quite a lot longer than his own. Win-win.

There is, however, a flash of something on Leliana's face when he asks her about the search. She's good at hiding her thoughts, no doubt, but Rudy catches that  _something_ and knows she's hiding something that Rudy wants to know.

"We have not discovered anything new," Leliana tells him, face already schools back into something almost pleasant, but mostly indifferent. "Now, if there is nothing else-"

"New?" Rudy asks, his mind churning hard. "Was their some old news I wasn't told? I haven't had a single update about my Ama since I asked you to look for her back in Haven."

Leliana purses her lips. "No, that was a poor choice of words. There has been no news."

"Well, tell me what places you've rules out at least." Rudy pushes, because he has a sinking suspicion about what Leliana is keeping from him. 

"None of the searches have been thorough enough to cross any locations off the list yet," Leliana says. The ravens squawk at her, and she resumes idly running her fingers through the feathers on their chests in turn. Rudy struggles to keep his expression open and pleasant, because with each passing second he feels anything but.

He knows how he comes off to other people. Rowdy and simple and gullible. It's not an image he works hard to shake off, truth be told, but in this particular instance, it chafes. Mostly because he'd had hopes that his friends thought better of him than that, and it's starting to dawn on him that Leliana probably doesn't feel very friendly towards him.

"Leliana," Rudy leans against the wall with his shoulder, arms crossed over his chest, fighting to keep himself smiling. "Have you sent out a single person to search for my mother?"

If this was one of Varric's novels, the rookery would have fallen into silence thick enough to stick a dagger in following his question. As it is, the ravens are unperturbed, and continue to caw at one another, and Solas is still ranting at Dorian from two floors below while Dorian sighs theatrically in response. Leliana is quiet though. Pensive. Calculating.

"We have other pressing matters to attend to, Inquisitor." Leliana tells him, not unkindly. Rudy rolls his eyes.

"More pressing than the risk of your Inquisitor leaving?" He asks, then winces when her jaw drops momentarily in surprise. He doesn't  _like_ to make a fuss, but he feels like he has little choice in the matter. This is all so much more dramatic than it needs to be.

"You would-" Leliana shakes her head in disbelief.

"Leave. Yes." Rudy confirms, pushing off the wall to straighten up. The thought to leave hadn't actually crossed his mind since Leliana agreed to take over his search, but it's back now and he's seized it tightly. Hastily made decisions are kind of his thing, after all, and they mostly work out for him.

Leliana frowns hard. "That is more selfish than even you would dare be."

"Not really." Rudy shrugs. "I can still close rifts on my own, after all. I'll have to travel quite a lot to get this search under way, so I'm assuming I'd run across them pretty often and just close them as I go."

"You would be unprotected," Leliana points out. "Corypheus would have nothing stopping him from coming after you."

"Corypheus is barely interested in me now that this doesn't work for him." Rudy raises the anchor and wiggles his fingers. "If word gets around that I'm not a part of the organization working to stop him, I doubt he'll give two shits about me."

Which, even if Corypheus did still want to come after Rudy, he doesn't see how him abandoning a high profile position like being Inquisitor will hurt his chances of not being found and assassinated. True, there aren't all that many Vashoth around this far south, but if he can find his old mercenary get up, keep his hand hidden, and grow a beard, maybe no one will recognize him.

It's be worth the risk to find Ama, in any case.

"Inquisitor..." Leliana sighs, her sharp edges softening just a fraction. "She may already be dead."

That stings.

"She may be alive," Rudy says, shaking his head. "Unless I see her corpse myself, with my own eyes, I won't disregard the possibility of her being alive out there, and so long as it's possible, even by the tiniest percent, then I'm going to keep trying to find her."

It's the least he can do for her, after all. The unfortunate circumstance of his magic manifesting itself hadn't really been his fault, he knows that, but he still feels responsible for Ama taking the fall for him, and how it subsequently lead to her being taken to the Circle in his stead. Plus, he'd made a promise to Tama when news of the Circles falling had reached him. He'd run home from practically the other side of the Marches just to tell her in person that he was going to find Ama and bring her back home to her wife.

"Very well, Inquisitor." Leliana strides over to her writing desk, shaking the ravens off from her arm as she goes. "I will send out agents to begin the search immediately."

Rudy doesn't let the fact that this search is only getting started  _six months_ after he initially asked for it ruin his day. There is a little more acid in his stomach than usual though, so he thinks a trip up to Sera's room is in order. She's always a good time, and she might even drag him down to the tavern to help distract him.

"I want daily updates," Rudy says, before he can get too carried away by thoughts of dancing and ale. "Even when I'm away, just uh, send them to the camps. I'll find them."

Leliana nods. "As you say."

Grinning, he taps a fist to his chest. "Much obliged, Lady Nightingale. Have a simply splendid afternoon."

"You as well, Inquisitor." Leliana says, far more wearily. He can't find a speck of guilt to feel over it as he strolls back down the stairs. He likes Leliana and wants to make her job easier where he can, but his Ama is priority number one as far as he's concerned. If anyone doesn't like it, they're free to find someone else who has a glowing green hands that closes rifts.

Barring that, they'll get out there, and they will fucking find his mother.


End file.
